Son of Hypnos

Hearing an album with kickass riffs and lackluster production is a letdown, but hearing an album with crappy riffs and polished production grinds my teeth. I’ll explain one band that excelled in the riff department and fell flat on their face because somebody wasn’t paying attention to the production job. Not only that, but these guys had to hear it every step of the way, which means they dropped the ball, too.

I hear bloodcurdling songs like “Through The Halls Of Darkness,” the poignant “Momento Mori,” and the crushing “The Third Reich 3797 A.C.” and I must bow down to the riffs that lay within. Nocturnus was the king of fast-paced, scientific riffs that were usually more intelligent than the listener. If they controlled that sector, then Morpheus is the diplomat of doomy, scientific riffs that sometimes outsmart the listener. There’s an old-school death / doom appeal brought about by the riffs, which are futuristic and antique; bending, morphing, melodic, and slithering with a raspy, brittle tone.

However, that’s as far as this album goes in terms of greatness. The rest of it I can’t hold my head up high to, as the production absolutely massacred any chance this album had at being a masterpiece. For one, everything is much rawer and crustier than it needs to be, which means that Son Of Hypnos has a lifeless personality. It sounds more like a scrapped together rehearsal than a full-length effort. The lower audibility was strike one, but lack of any power whatsoever (no bass boom, no artillery drums, no vocal strength, etc.) means that we have a very inflated album; air doesn’t do as good a job imitating pure muscle. The next hefty piece after the guitars (and by a very wide margin) are the vocals, which sounds like a pig trying to growl. Not pig squealing, but just a barn hog coughing up all that guck from its throat in an attempt to hurl or exhale some nasty barks. Rapping or one word at a time, these clear (mixing wise) vocals aren’t that appealing and only get repetitive and annoying after the first track.

The drumming sounds like marching / band class drumming with their clarity and lack of mastering. Sometimes it works (thinking old-school punk), but in this case it makes the drumming very metallic, live sounding, and without any back-up; it goes against the guitars and their wicked ways. As for the bass, I can’t hear it at all; maybe one out of five songs, but nothing that catches my ear during casual listens. To me, it’s just the thin guitar tone, Brink’s hoggish barks, and this band-class drummer – if you are a bassist, do not entry. To add onto the pile, the songwriting itself doesn’t add anything. Riffs can only do so much, but lame production and hardly any group support only runs directionless efforts into the ground.

I see this album as very black and white with little breathing room or personality. I can be very picky about production, but this album deserves so much more. It has vibes of Necrophobic and Nocturnus primarily because of the riffs, but unfortunately everything else about the album isn’t as helpful. Good to know that band members Ramstedt and Bergebäck were actually utilized for real, as they’re now (as of writing this) in Necrophobic and have been for quite some time; beats Morpheus by a longshot.